Office Therapy
by IVIaedhros
Summary: Dr. Phil has nothing on Byakuya.


Byakuya was many things, but no one had ever even bothered to think of, let alone accuse aloud, the Kuchiki heir of being lazy. Not even when the current work could aptly be described as mind-numbing at its best and, at worse, obscene torture worthy of the late Mayuri Kurotsuchi. So it was that Byakuya began work on yet another of the seemingly endless forms that were required for Seretei to rebuild itself from the ashes of the Arrancar War.

As the head of a noble family and a former division captain of the Gotei Thirteen, Byakuya had thought himself inured to paperwork. He had even counted himself proficient in the distasteful activity, much as it secretly dismayed him, and quietly thought of himself as second only to Ise Nanao in terms administrative ability. However there was nothing, not single handedly managing the paperwork of an entire division, not keeping track of the welfare of an entire clan spanning generations, nor managing his own estates that could have prepared him for the overwhelming task of trying to rebuild the shattered ranks of the shinigami.

"Happily working yourself into an early grave, Little Byakuya?" Byakuya was tempted to ignore the strange, scratchy voice that heralded Shihoin Yoruichi's arrival in all her feline glory. Long experience, however, dictated that she would only become more distracting until he was forced to acknowledge her, thus taking him away from his paperwork even longer.

"Captain General Ukitake is not here at the moment, sensei," Byakuya responded with an infinitely long suffering tone that would've made Unohana herself proud.

Somehow his ex-shunpo instructor managed to convey an expression of irritation through her morphed features. "Oh gawd, you make me sound like an old hag. How many times have I _ordered_ you to not call me that? What happened to Mr. I-will-obey-my-superiors-like-a-mindless-drone?."

Byakuya blamed the next comment on his supreme fatigue and on his old sensei's contrary nature. "As you constantly remind me every time you speak my name, you are a good deal older than me. And I am no longer young, sensei." The only thing that saved Byakuya's face from becoming a good deal less pretty was reflexes honed to the finest razor's edge over more than a decade of tense patrols and bloodbaths; that and Yoruichi's much shortened reach.

"If you wish to talk to the Captain General, _sensei_, you would be better served going to the third," Byakuya placidly stated from the far corner of the office where he seemed to have teleported. "He is holding an inspection-at-arms today and should have just finished with the second."

Yoruichi eyed him dangerously from her position on his desk, clearly torn between the desire to punish the impudent noble and her desire to catch her oft missing husband before he left the third. "You're lucky that killing you would mean even more work for Jyuushiro. I might just…" Yoruichi stopped in midsentence and perked her ears up as a half-intelligible mumble could be suddenly heard coming from the personal quarters of Byakuya's office. Byakuya's slight grimace became less slight as Yoruichi easily slid through the cracked doorway leading to his personal quarters. He quickly followed after her.

"Aww, why wasn't I invited to the sleep over, Little Byakuya?" Yoruichi sauntered over to the unconscious lump currently inhabiting his office.

Byakuya resisted the urge massage his temples. Ichigo Kurosaki was passed out in an unsightly sprawl on the small sleeping mat he kept in his office for when the hours became so long it wasn't even worth going home. The former substitute shinigami, hero of the Arrancar War and captain of the reconstituted fifth division didn't look sick so much as completely and utterly wretched. The young man, boy really, was still dressed in his worn duty uniform which reeked of alcohol and body odor while the ridiculous hair he was so famous for looked like some vermin had been nesting in it.

"Jyuushiro's has been looking all for you, Strawbery; rise and shine!" Yoruichi immediately launched herself and her surprisingly sharp claws into an airborne trajectory on course to intercept with the unconscious Ichigo. Fortunately for Ichigo's much needed beauty rest, Yoruichi was caught in mid-lunge by Byakuya.

"You're being childish, Yoruichi-sensei," Byakuya sneered while he coldly watched blood from his hand begin to drip onto the floor. Yoruichi spat out whatever she'd taken from her bite and returned his glare with one of her own, fire to ice, while Byakuya carried her out of the room and closed the door completely before setting her down none too gently.

"I've already dispatched a message informing Captain General Ukitake of Captain Kurosaki's whereabouts and I would appreciate you not waking him. I've had enough pointless drama today." Lords above and below, wasn't that the truth of it?

The Shihoin were nothing if not perceptive. "Since when did you care about the Strawberry?" Yoruichi's amber eyes narrowed slightly in suspicion. "What happened to Ichigo?"

Byakuya sat back down and returned to his paperwork. While he wished it was otherwise, Byakuya held little hope of satisfying his second uninvited guest with any timeliness. He might as well get started on his work in the mean time.

"I believe Captain Kurosaki tried once more today to woo my sister. I also believe she might have been somewhat…harsh…in order to discourage him from further attempts."

"And Ichigo ended up completely trashed…in your office."

When Byakuya simply ignored her and continued to write, Yoruichi took it to mean that he had confirmed her guess.

"How?"

The swish of his calligraphy brush was soothing in the way that mindlessly robotic things can be and it allowed him something within which to drown his irritation. When Byakuya answered, there was no physical hint of his annoyance. They both knew she knew otherwise, but it was important that the mask be maintained. He'd gone outside his normal bounds enough for the day.

"After his rejection, Captain Kurosaki decided to speak with the Captain General; however, he had already left for the inspection. I found Captain Kurosaki while he waited and moved him."

This was true in a sense; however Byakuya's purposeful silence had lead to wrongful assumptions on Yoruichi's part. This, of course, was how he had intended it.

"_You're a #&!*#$! asshole."_

_Byakuya didn't think Ichigo's assessment warranted any further response from him. He knew what the general consensus of him was and how the Kurosaki boy might derive the same conclusion from his current actions (his foot squarely on Ichigo's neck). And he did not care. Because he was right and knew it._

"_Now, tell me Captain Kurosaki," Byakuya let his foot up suddenly so the younger shinigami could gasp for air, "why is it you barged into the Captain General's office and decided that you want to fight me when he is not here?"_

"_&#!%_ you, Byakuya! I haven't got the time to-" Ichigo was cut off in mid-rant by a very timid looking aid poking his head through the door. _

"_Captain Kuchiki, you're sister's here to see you. She said it was urgent," he almost gasped out, nearly strangled by the loose reiatsu Ichigo radiated in his fury. _

"_Send her in," Byakuya replied in dry voice. He watched as he watched the underling gratefully disappeared before turning to address Ichigo, but the former ryoka had gone pale as the hollow which dwelt within his inmost spirit. He also appeared to be trying to grind his own teeth into dust. Byakuya arced a refined eyebrow before gliding past the frozen captain and out into the hallway. He could sense Rukia on the other side, but she didn't appear to be moving._

_He found her standing in the hallway, looking exceedingly nervous._

"_You wanted to see me, Rukia?" His sister started slightly at the sound of his voice before shooting a longing glance down where she'd just come from. She looked slightly panicked. And awkward._

"_Oh, uh,…yes, I…" Rukia seemed to collect her wits enough to put on a semi-collected façade. "please tell Captain General Ukitake that his candy has arrived."_

_Very awkward._

"…_very well." _

_Rukia bowed and immediately left. Byakuya walked back into the office and found Ichigo looking through him with an expression of nervous agony. It didn't take a prodigy of Byakuya's caliber to connect the dots._

"_It is painful, when you know someone who loves you, but isn't willing to take the final step," Byakiua stated plaintively. " Even more so when you know it's not because they're afraid, but because they genuinely cannot see you as their lover." _

_Ichigo's expression mirrored the one he'd had so many years ago when Byakuya had carved a ragged hole in his chest with kidou. Byakuya took a moment to examine his fellow captain once more and found himself drawn to details he'd glossed over before in his annoyance: the bags under the eyes, the slightly dazed reactions and the despair. Quite unexpectedly, he felt a pang in his own heart. _

"_You've probably never had Ohmi tea before," Byakuya said has he gently ushered Ichigo towards his own offices._

Yoruichi huffed as she groomed the silken fur along her legs. Byakuya cringed internally. The Shihoin princess had once been considered as a potential marriage partner for him by the elders of their respective clans, and as physically attractive as Yoruichi could be, the fact that she literally licked her own ass effectively shut down any latent desires he might have had for her. Byakuya supposed it was a plus for Jyuushiro since she wouldn't mind the fact that he occasionally coughed up blood. She probably thought it was kinky. Byakuya's eye twitched. He really needed to take a break.

"Well, we'll have to figure out some way to snap him out of his funk: we need him at full speed."

"Give him some time. He will be worthless if he does not resolve his issues."

Yoruichi nodded in agreement as she finished her impromptu cat bath. "Heh, the mighty Kurosaki Ichigo, vaizard, war hero and one of the most powerful known beings alive brought low by a woman half his size."

Something in her tone set his teeth on edge. Visions of another woman so like and yet unlike to Rukia's fiery strength flitted before his mind's eye. Hisana had loved him, but only through gratitude and reverence; never as he'd wanted her to.

"Not all of us are so lucky that the one our hearts incline us towards is capable of returning of equal reciprocation, Yoruichi." Byakuya fixed the amber eyed feline in his gaze. "Leave him be: he is young, strong and well-loved. He will recover. At very least, Rukia will not leave him." She would not fade away was the unspoken comment and Byakuya thought Yoruichi might have picked up on it.

Silence fell heavily on the office, save the quiet swish of his brush upon paper. After several minutes had passed, Byakuya looked up from his work to discover Yoruichi was still there, staring at the door.

"How did you lose your wife, Byakuya?" Her latest comment finally managed to get the Kuchiki heir to stop writing. He glanced up at her. She was the commander of Keigun Brigade before Byakuya had even entered into the Academy. She was intimately connected with Kuukaku Shiba and Kisuke Urahara and married to the commander of the Gotei 13. Of course she knew.

"She gave up on life. The burden of her guilt and despair outweighed her desire for life and her love of the things therein."

Yoruichi gave no reply to that harsh state, the sound of ink being laid upon parchment again the only break in the oppressive silence. Byakuya neither looked up again nor did his brush cease its flitting dance, but he still felt the deliberately suppressed fire of her spirit move when she began to leave.

"Yoruichi."

She stopped and he knew he had her attention.

"He will not give up: he is too strong…but do not take what you have for granted or give into bitterness and anger should he lose. Life," he added sagaciously, "has a way of surprising us unpleasantly and sometime even the strongest can, in the end, do nothing, but bow to its whims."

The black cat gave no answer as she silently ghosted from his office. Again, Byakuya wondered if he should not have tried harder to dissuade Jyuushiro from accepting the rogue shinigami's advances. He did not know what had caused her separation with Kisuke, but it had...damaged, if he had to pick a term; it had left her damaged, somehow unsound and substantially less than she had once been. How she'd caught Jyuushiro's eye and then somehow circumnavigated his previously ironclad decision to not attach himself to another was an utter mystery to the Kuchiki lord, but it was worrisome.

"One cannot give, what does not have," he spoke morosely to himself, lost in reflections. He hoped that the two would not destroy one another. Soul Society couldn't afford to lose either of them, couldn't afford to lose anyone.

Sighing, Byakuya hid his concerns away in the metaphorical box as he once again resumed his never ending care of Seretei's rebuilding government.

It had been a very long day.

_**A/N: **__I really have no idea where this came from or what the point's supposed to be…I don't think there is one, to be honest. I wrote it several months ago in about two hours of random inspiration and had no clue what to do with it. It sat on my HD until I rediscovered it, decided I liked Byakuya's characterization enough to not toss it out. Hope ya' enjoyed it, for what it was worth.  
_


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